Airbnb guest throws 'New Year's banger' party, trashes the house

[Kevin Lefeuvre]

"A New Year’s banger at an Ohio Airbnb, meant to be the party to kick off 2018, turned into a nightmare when the host lost control and police officers from five departments were forced to shut down the celebration while 200 party goers trashed the residence."

From what I can read, Airbnb declared this is extremely rare, banned the guest (oh thank you airbnb), but didn't compensate the host. $10k according to the host easily verified based on the video

Video and more on this here: Link

What do you have in place to prevent this at your place(s)? What would you do?

[Jon Crosby]

Great story @Kevin Lefeuvre! Definitely one of my major fears as an STR/VR owner and operator!

This owner was actually in the house playing video games when the party started though, so not sure why it took him so long to get control of the situation (must have been a great game).  :) 

Not sure why it's AirBNB's fault or liability since I'm guessing the homeowner is the one that approved the guest to stay there. If they did pay out for this guy, then they open Pandora's box for other hosts to not enforce policies and pay out even more down the road I would think.    

For me, I use a variety of methods to help combat parties such as:

> External video cameras

>30 and older rule to book property and families only

>No parties specific rule in contract along with maximum allowable persons in home at any time

>Stay in touch with my neighbors so they can be my second set of eyes on the place

>I use Evolve so they cover up to $3000 in any damage and they will go after the guest's credit card if further funds are required. 

That being said, just this last summer, I had a group come in and cause a little damage and had more guests then they were allowed to.  I banned them from my property for future bookings and I now pay particular attention to guests that book 'last minute' as most families and those over 30 will usually plan their vacations and trips well in advance.  

Thanks for the post, good stuff! 

Cheers!